At the Zu

Shadowing Zu this past Friday was fun. It's interesting, but I kind of always thought that all Cirque shows followed the same vein of performance. I thought that they all had lots of acrobatic acts with a few clowning bits in between and that the themes just varied from show to show. Nope!

Zumanity is a smaller Cabaret show with very individualized acts. Their theater seats 1,250, and the proscenium arch for their stage is smaller than Elon's McCrary theater. Yup--no joke. This show has just about 40 performers (less than Midusmmer if you include the band!) and even fewer technicians. It's a very small, intimate space. Rather than have group acrobatic acts they have highlight specialized spotlight performances. Though this is unique, it means that if one of their artists is out it drastically changes the flow of their show. They have backup acts and can put them in as needed, but sometimes there's no back-up to the back-up's back-up. ;)

What also makes Zumanity unique from other Cirque shows is how intimate it is. The Emcee runs most of the show, and though he tends to follow a pattern, he's not actually scripted. Also, most of the female performers are topless. No, Zu is not a burlesque show, but rather a creative expression of the human sexual desire reflected in an erotically artistic form. Some of the acts include a school girl hula-hooping while swinging through the air, a woman pole-dancing in-front of a football game screen, a Gigilo strip dancing, and a clown act DIY 'scotch baggies' where she explains the best way to stuff your bra. I know--it probably doesn't sound very artistic, but never once did I think, 'wow, that's not tasteful.' Instead I was still blown away by their performances.

I watched the first show from the booth with the calling SM, and then roved backstage. Unlike the show I'm working on, Zu had a paper-book from which they called from. Though obviously typed and stored on a computer, each SM had their own book in which they wrote, scribbled and highlighted. The SM calls all of the automation cues that control scenic elements (lift, large wave screens tracked on-stage, lighting ladders) and is looking out for the safety of the performer's onstage.

When I roved backstage I was with an ASM in rotation. Rather than have one ASM at the show at all times, Zu has 2 people that come in every few days to do work. This particular girl is on the Stage Management team at Blue Man. After talking with her and spending time with her backstage she invited me to come see Blue Man backstage on one of my off days. Of course I'll look into this. ;) The rover track was much simpler than the one I had just learned. There were perhaps 10 cues in all for the show, and most of them involved opening doors, paging curtains and letting the cast know which audience members had already been chosen for participation. With the newer Cirque shows, ASMs and SMs are more os supervisors backstage rather than hands-on--which is how most people view the SM position should operate.

When Mystère opened, Cirque was still trying to figure things out, which is why their SM team has so much to do during shows. I don't have a preference, but I am enjoying the challenges that my show is presenting me. This week, for example, I'm learning the SR track. Is started last night and will continue for the next few days. The first show I shadowed was a bit hectic as one of the winches failed, and an act was shortened. What's neat about Cirque is that really--the show must go on. Mystère has never stopped or halted a show. What happens is they stall. The calling SM tried 3 times to call the winch in, and after the third attempt, moved on (i found out that it's either 3 quick tries or 20 seconds to try to fix the problem before moving on).

Onstage, you had your characters engaged and acting. Backstage people were ready to go on while another SM made the call to get into positions for the next act. Everyone responded very quickly. One way that Stage Management can communicate to the performers--both onstage and backstage--is a light system. There are sets of green, yellow and red lights located all around the stage that the audience can't see, but the performers and crew can. Green means everything is operating normally, yellow is proceed with caution or look for instructions if you can, and red is stop where you are. Another thing is that the SM team has the ability to page the entire backstage area with their headset. With one click a SM can let performers immediately know any changes. Very cool--very effective.

So--wrapping up that rant--the show went on and my second shadow of the track went much smoother. I continue today with another SM member, and then go back return to roving tomorrow (without a shadow for the second show). Tuesday and Wednesday I'll be back SR to try and do the track myself. But for now I'm going to peace out and go for a walk/jog... the Cirque 5K is this Saturday... fun. I'm not really worried about my ability to finish, but I would like to not be the very last person across the line. We'll see. No matter what, it's for a good cause, and a little exercise never hurt anyone... right?